zellapaige's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This is an absolutely stellar take on the small town romance. The sense of community here is delightful and so well incorporated into the romance. The book absolutely hit the small town romance trope out of the park, I don’t think it was as successful with some of it’s other tropes. Particularly the fact this was Dawson’s first gay experience, I was glad he didn’t have a big gay freak out, but I wish there had been more to it. There was so much room for Dawson to be excited and scared about his queerness and all the new things he could experience, but that barely factored into the story.
Dawson has a lot of hang ups based on his most serious previous relationship. His ex girlfriend is clearly abusive and I hated that it was never described as abuse on the page. Dawson acknowledges her as manipulative and says he sometimes thought he was going crazy but never calls her emotional abusive. I think that had the author accurately defined how Dawson was treated a lot more could have been done with that plot to help him heal after the relationships. The abuse could have been a really cool way to develop Dawson more as a complex person, but instead that relationship was just used as a way to make Evan jealous.
Dawson has a lot of hang ups based on his most serious previous relationship. His ex girlfriend is clearly abusive and I hated that it was never described as abuse on the page. Dawson acknowledges her as manipulative and says he sometimes thought he was going crazy but never calls her emotional abusive. I think that had the author accurately defined how Dawson was treated a lot more could have been done with that plot to help him heal after the relationships. The abuse could have been a really cool way to develop Dawson more as a complex person, but instead that relationship was just used as a way to make Evan jealous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
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